From Fool to Full – February 27, 2023 (71/365)

Whoever sends a message by the hand of a fool cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.

Like a lame man’s legs, which hang useless, is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

Like one who binds the stone in the sling is one who gives honor to a fool.

Like a thorn that goes up into the hand of a drunkard is a proverb in the mouth of fools.

Like an archer who wounds everyone is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard.

Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.

Proverbs 26:6-11

Behold the fruits of a fool.

He is not at all worthy of trust. For if we rely on him to relay a simple message, who knows what sort of issues may arise? Not only do we render ourselves immobile by depending on him, but we also harm ourselves in the worst way – from the inside out.

The fool would not only think that wisdom is of no use to him, but he would also go as far as to recognize that it drags him down. And if we were to think that we would be doing him a favor by imparting some sort of recognition upon him, or by giving complements to him – it wouldn’t have any positive effect on him, and it may more likely reflect on us with negative impact.

Would we do him any good, then, if we try to share proverbs, or maxims and adages, or even verses to him? Well, they could pierce him as far as skin deep, and he may even react, but it would be no use . Do we try to influence him by way of, perhaps, involving him in our ways? You may be able to strike where it matters, but don’t be surprised if other valuable things break along the way.

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.

Psalms 14:1

Every fool has two things in common. First, all their innate corruption ensures that none of their deeds are good. In fact, all they do is ultimately corrupt, and abominable. These days more and more people deny that what they do is evil – they actually go a step further by saying that they are tolerable and even encouraged. However, the grand verdict does not lie in the majority, but in the One who made it all – the same God they, deep in their hearts, vehemently deny.

See there, it’s not that they say, ‘I don’t think that there is a God’, or ‘There may be a God’: No, it’s an entirely different thing altogether to say that there is no God. And a heart that says this much is actually saying, believing, that they are in place of God; That they themselves are gods.

In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek Him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”

Psalms 10:4

Here we see a connection between foolishness and wickedness. It should not be implied that the fool is necessarily one who is slow in the head. No, if you take a quick look at a thesaurus you would see that the fool is one who can have awareness and cognition, but is laced with the effects of pride. On top of imbecility, idiocy and stupidity you see words such as impracticality, inadvisability, irrationality, and rashness. The pride in a man would have him step on God in a vain attempt to lift himself up.

What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”2 Peter 2:22

After pride, another thing that every fool has in common is his folly. In the absence of God in their hearts, something else that should not be there takes its place. Pride places themselves in the open, empty void present in every sinner’s heart, and they try, as much as they could, to try to fill this void with all sorts of things… only for all of it to end up as folly.

Did you catch that? There lies a third, and most important trait in common with every fool – that deeper than their pride, and deeper than their hearts and their folly, lies sin that is the source of it all. Sin, and the consequential void it leaves in a man’s being.

I didn’t think to write this to condemn bad behavior, or to commend good behavior; in fact, while we are in this world, whether we do say that there is a God or not, we are all subject to making mistakes, and we will never be sure if what we do before, during, or after we do what we do is good or not.

We’re all capable of being fools in our own eyes, or in the eyes of others – but the Truth of the matter is that even here, we appreciate who Christ is, and what He has done for us. We see these sorts of details and we are reminded of just how much Christ has paid, and just how much we have been saved.

For, see, He did that same thing – He did not go so shallow as to tell us to merely fix ourselves on the surface. Nor did He stop where many ministers think we should put a whole lot of focus on these days – our hearts. Friends, He went straight to the root of our being unreliable, prideful, and empty – sin.

And He did not merely take our sin. One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 5:21, where it says in the first half that He BECAME sin – He BECAME the root of our problems, and took with it ALL of the resultant condemnation and consequences. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords loved us so much that He was willing to be the greatest fool, the Fool of Fools, if only to reconcile us to the Father.

In our fear, let us remember that it is Christ who became sin, in order for us to face it, knowing that it is perfect love that we are in, now and forever. In our doubts, even in the times that we ourselves would question God and His existence, let us remember how the problem of the unquenchable void we once had was solved by Christ; By His resurrection we are assured of our reconciliation, and by His grace we have been saved.

The rest of the Proverb elaborates on the lazy and the liar. I may write about these as well in the future but for now I thought it necessary for us to look into the fool – the fools we once were, the fool Christ became, for us to be reconciled… and full.

Have a great week ahead.

Until the next post, God bless us all.